Vegetable

This dish is a bold mix of salty, sweet, and acidic components. Crunchy slabs of melon and sharp greens keep it fresh; meaty chops provide depth.

Waste not, watermelon lovers: This Southern pickle deserves a spot in your fridge. It's great alongside grilled pork chops, but we'd happily snack on it right out of the jar.

Cooked summer squash can be mushy. Solution: Eat it raw. If you can’t find buckwheat groats, use chopped toasted almonds instead.

Making tomato water sounds fancy, but all you’re doing is collecting the juices that weep from chopped ripe tomatoes. It’s delicious with simple seafood, or add a splash to any vinaigrette.

“Cool and bright, this herb-laced corn salad is my new summer staple.” –Alfia Muzio, recipe developer

A super-juicy watermelon is key; it should feel heavy for its size and sound hollow when tapped.

Yes, you can treat parsley as a salad green, as long as your bunch isn’t woody. Sweet molasses and tart sumac make it vibrant. As for the raw onions, massage them with salt and let them sit for half an hour so they’re not so astringent. Also, adds Ottolenghi, “so you don’t burb.”

You can also make this dish with littleneck or cherrystone clams instead of mussels.

A power lunch for grown-ups and kids alike.

Separate compartments are key to packing this lunch. Switch up the fixings to keep it fresh: Salsa, guac, and sour cream are all good options.

The key to this sauce is a creamy emulsion of the oil, cheese, and pasta water. Toss and stir—and stir and toss—adding liquid freely, until it comes together.

The aioli will appear quite tight when all the oil is incorporated, but it will loosen to a pourable consistency once the buttermilk and shallot are added.

Make sure you keep your grill at a steady medium-level heat; if it’s too hot, the chicken will char without cooking through.

This tahini-enhanced recipe is what ranch dressing would taste like if it spent a few months traipsing through the Middle East (and poured itself on a bed of haricots verts).

This fish and corn cake recipe is a less expensive, equally delicious option for anyone who loves a crab cake. Could you put it on a bun? Why not?

Making the eggplant spread ahead of time has a double upside: The flavors of the mixture will deepen as it sits, and you get to cross something off the list.

Use very ripe—even overripe—tomatoes; they’ll give up even more juice.

“Don’t try this with iceberg,” advises Roberta’s chef Carlo Mirarchi. Flavorful, robust lettuces work best, allowing you to get grill marks on one side while the rest wilts.

All chiles vary in heat, so choose wisely!

This vinegary hot sauce will mellow with time; make it the day before for a little less spice.

Fresh crunch, cooling vegetables, a hit of extra acidity, and dollop of sour cream: It’s all here in this summer slaw.

A fish taco dream come true: crispy, light-as-air fried fish, balanced by a creamy slaw and fiery, cooling, and crunchy fixings.

Never met a corn fritter recipe we didn’t like, and we love this one.

Sugared, roasted lemons are edible from rind to flesh and give this salsa-like mix a bracing jolt of sourness.